Part Two of this three part Beatles saga opens with Paul McCartney voicing his concern over the John Lennon/Yoko Ono relationship, though he doesn't let that diminish John's importance to the group, and makes it a point to say that he wouldn't want to interfere in it in any way. The more immediate focal point of what's happening involves George Harrison's return to record with his band mates a couple days after dejectedly quitting the iconic group. I was actually shocked somewhat that the people behind the scenes of the project secretly recorded John and Paul's conversation about George. It lends insight into what the boys were thinking at the time, but seemed kind of underhanded to me. The backup plan if George didn't return might have found Eric Clapton a Beatle, an idea that blows my mind even today.
With what's been released so far on Disney Plus, I'm still in somewhat of a quandary as to the massive up-voting for this project. At the same time, I note that there have been less than two thousand viewer votes on the main title page (as I write this), which suggests that it's the truly rabid Beatles fans who have sought this series out, seventy five percent of whom have given it a '10' rating. With an audience restricted exclusively to Disney Plus at present, it's uncertain how a wider audience of less engaged music fans would react to the series. Personally, I found this episode even more of a chore to sit through than the first, seeing as how it's not much more than the band hanging out and tossing around ideas for lyrics and guitar chords to make their new song creations work. It's just not that compelling.
Even with George Harrison back, the tempo of the recording sessions doesn't really pick up until keyboard artist Billy Preston comes on board, invited by the band to add his unique style to their project. Every shot of Preston shows him beaming, presumably to be in the midst of these musical icons. At the same time, Ringo has this almost permanent disinterested look, at times even appearing to try and stay awake. The only time George comes alive is when he's given free reign by Paul to perform 'For You Blue', a composition he wrote that appears on the 'Let It Be' album. In Part One, one of the main points of contention with George was that he felt left out of the song writing aspect of the project, with Paul playing this semantic game with him that managed to annoy both of them.
Before ending, this entry shows clips of the Beatles in India when they sought out the tutelage of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Still under a time constraint, and with the idea of a television special discarded in favor of a live performance, a decision has been made to perform their new songs on the roof top of Apple Studios in four days. That at least should be more than interesting.
With what's been released so far on Disney Plus, I'm still in somewhat of a quandary as to the massive up-voting for this project. At the same time, I note that there have been less than two thousand viewer votes on the main title page (as I write this), which suggests that it's the truly rabid Beatles fans who have sought this series out, seventy five percent of whom have given it a '10' rating. With an audience restricted exclusively to Disney Plus at present, it's uncertain how a wider audience of less engaged music fans would react to the series. Personally, I found this episode even more of a chore to sit through than the first, seeing as how it's not much more than the band hanging out and tossing around ideas for lyrics and guitar chords to make their new song creations work. It's just not that compelling.
Even with George Harrison back, the tempo of the recording sessions doesn't really pick up until keyboard artist Billy Preston comes on board, invited by the band to add his unique style to their project. Every shot of Preston shows him beaming, presumably to be in the midst of these musical icons. At the same time, Ringo has this almost permanent disinterested look, at times even appearing to try and stay awake. The only time George comes alive is when he's given free reign by Paul to perform 'For You Blue', a composition he wrote that appears on the 'Let It Be' album. In Part One, one of the main points of contention with George was that he felt left out of the song writing aspect of the project, with Paul playing this semantic game with him that managed to annoy both of them.
Before ending, this entry shows clips of the Beatles in India when they sought out the tutelage of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Still under a time constraint, and with the idea of a television special discarded in favor of a live performance, a decision has been made to perform their new songs on the roof top of Apple Studios in four days. That at least should be more than interesting.